1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital versatile disk (DVD) player for playing back content such as a movie which is recorded on a DVD.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, DVD players have quickly come into widespread use, and as a result, movies, etc., can be enjoyed even at home with high picture quality and high sound quality. The DVD specification enables recording of a maximum of eight languages for audio, a maximum of thirty-two languages for subpictures used as subtitles, and a maximum of nine angles. When a plurality of languages for audio, a plurality of languages for subpictures, and a plurality of angles are recorded on a DVD (hereinafter, DVD means a disk produced in conformity with the DVD specification), a user can enjoy a video by selecting an audio language, a subpicture language, and an angle which match the user's preferences.
With a DVD player, in order to enjoy a movie to the utmost, the user can set the audio language to English and the subpicture language to Japanese, or alternatively can erase the subpictures while setting the audio language to English. However, these functions cannot be used if the content recorded on the DVD is not so designed. DVDs which are available on the market include a type in which a subtitled video is recorded without separately recording video and subpictures. For example, this type includes one in which an old film of a foreign movie is converted into DVD format without being changed, and one in which videocassette is converted to DVD format without being changed.
When the video recorded on this type of DVD is played back by a DVD player, subpictures are superimposed on the video on the screen, and it looks as if subpictures have been selected. With this DVD, since the user cannot erase the subpictures when playing back the video, the user become aware that the subpictures cannot be switched, even though they appear to be selected. In this case, the user cannot determine whether this is due to the DVD or the DVD player.
In addition, there may be a case in which a DVD producer prohibits the audio language, the subpicture language, or the angle from being switched. For example, when the subpictures are prohibited from being switched, the user cannot erase the subpictures even though the video (main picture) and the subpictures are separately recorded. Also in this case, the user cannot determine whether this inability to switch the subpictures is due to the DVD or the DVD player.
Therefore, according to the conventional player of the related art, when the user cannot switch the audio language settings and the subpicture language settings, the user may mistakenly think that the DVD player (e.g., the player itself or a remote controller therefor) is out of order although the cause is the content recorded on the DVD.